Imposter System

Chapter 63: Olive Branch

Matt sat silently in the Captain's quarters which were surprisingly basic. The room was not much bigger than the room he shared with Alexis. The decorations were simple, sporting a few historic weapons that Matt recognized to be from a very early era. He admired the collection when the captain opened the door to his office and invited him in.

The captain had brought him to his quarters and had him wait while he prepared something. When the captain stepped out, he was holding a box.

"First century curved sword, originally created by the Indians but later adopted by the Mongolians to spread their influence across the land. Truly a marvel to see how far we have come, yet still have the same motivations."

"Captain, what do you need to speak about?"

"Right, here, this is for you."

He passed Matt the box and let him open it himself. The box was fairly thin and opened with a hinge in the back. When he flipped the cover open the inside was covered in velvet and there was a bronze and silver medal inside. The medal was of the sun back in the milky way galaxy. Matt knew what this medal was and it made him slightly nervous. He looked up at the captain and swallowed the saliva that accumulated.

"Matthew O'Connely, I present you this commendation badge for your brave actions. Since the details of what you did are a bit sensitive and unsuitable for the general crewmen, I decided to present it to you in private. Do you have any requests?"

"No, Sir."

"Hmm. Alright. Let me give you some advice, don't work too hard. The last thing we want is that thing freely moving around the ship. While part of the ship, it is still restricted by many fail safes."

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After finishing speaking, he stood up and showed Matt out. The whole situation was very strange to Matt. The captain was aware of what had happened and even gave him a medal. It was probably bugged. Shepherd is likely blocking all access to Matt's data so the Captain needed a way to monitor him. The most interesting thing was realizing that the Captain was aware of the dangers of the Mobile Unit.

The protocol that prevented the AI from killing humans was very strict and could not be executed easily. This was likely why the AI manipulated others into doing its dirty work. However, if it received a body, it would be free from many of the subroutines that prevent it from taking direction action. Ironically, Shepherd is a trapped animal wishing to be free. Matt went toward the cafeteria to eat since it was well past breakfast time.

After getting a quick meal, Matt went straight to his lab. Martha was pleased to get a chance to move around the ship and explore. Since he acquired copies of Dr. Bradshaw's notebook, he knew the formula that created the seeds which provided evolution points. He decided to create a large batch of the solution and start collecting seeds from Martha. He was tempted to take them for himself, but decided giving it to Alexis was critical.

Even if she did not acquire the ability to resist electricity, she would at the very least get a useful ability. Unfortunately, there was a limited quantity of the living metal, otherwise he would secure that as well for her. Since Matt already took a large chunk of the available resources, it was better for him to complete the ability himself first. Then, he could worry about helping Alexis get stronger.

{Are you okay with making a lot of those seeds?}

Matt asked since he was afraid, she might feel uncomfortable, but Martha responded that there would be no issue. To her, it was like growing and cutting hair. Thinking about her origins, Matt wondered if there was a way for her to get rid of the Earth DNA that was spliced together with hers. There are methods of genetic manipulation, but using them on living subjects was dangerous.

They arrived at the lab and Matt saw a large cooler, about the size of a writing desk, sitting in the center of his lab. The cooler was time-locked and only accepted a biometric input. He placed his thumbprint and scanned his eye and the timer started. The time-locking mechanism was a safety device to deter unauthorized users from opening it. Once the timer reached five minutes, it required him to input his biometrics once more and the cooler finally released the locks.

Inside the cooler were twenty shelves with fifty slots in each shelf. This meant there were at most a thousand samples. Matt's eyes went wide and he couldn't help but smile. He unlocked the wheels and pulled the cooler into the cold room. Once inside, he took out a stand and placed some of the samples in it. He opened them one by one and inspected their contents.

[Genetic Material Detected. 89% compatibility. Grade 2+. Consume for 10 Evolution Point.]

Matt raised his brow and realized what was going on. The scientists were researching ways to mix the foreign DNA with humans, and it seemed they half-succeeded. Bringing a human to the two-plus grade is a feat. However, these samples were likely from the half-dead experiments he saw. The fact there were so many made him nervous. He lifted the top shelf and saw that it was empty underneath. He sighed in relief, since the thought of there being a thousand experiments was frightening.

For now, fifty samples were good enough. He left the cold room and ordered a bunch of nucleic acids and proteins. Synthesizing chemical compounds was difficult in an environment where resources were limited. Fortunately, the agriculture branch in charge of growing various plants produced enough organic matter to supplement the ships resources. Matt sat down in the back corner of the cold room and took out the remaining Ku'Lothri samples.

He took the first, largest chunk. The arm he absorbed was quite large and netted him one-hundred and four points. This piece was part of the upper thigh and hip area. After removing most of the metal components, it was about eighty-percent the size of the arm. He cut open his hand with a sterile blade and let the cells flow into him. Once the living metal began shifting and moving, even more metal pieces fell out from within. This decreased the total volume by quite a bit reducing the amount of points Matt gained.

As the cells all flowed into him and spread throughout his body attempting to reinforce his host body, another flash of a memory appeared in his mind. It was pitch black in space where he flew toward an unknown direction. However, far into the distance, a light emerged and it seemed that he was flying towards it. The vision ended and Matt jerked awake. He had drenched his undershirt which started to get very cold due to being in a four-degree Celsius room.

Matt had gained eighty-four points from the chunk he absorbed. This was just enough for the next level of Genetic Assimilation. He quickly dumped his points into it and let the feeling of growing stronger flow over him. He didn't gain any other abilities from the metal, nor did his Biological Reinforcement level up. He was certain that it would increase from taking in the living metal, so it must be a quantity issue.

[Genetic Assimilation Lv. 2->3: There is no being in the universe with more potential than the parasite. This is not because of their individual strength, but due to their ability to steal all other beings' strengths. Instead of replacing the host for a more suitable vessel, absorbing the genetics of all creatures will allow the parasite to enhance, improve, and perfect a unique body.

]Ability: Detect Life (120m->150m)

]Absorption Grade Limit: 3->3

]Unique Ability Limit: 1->1

]Efficiency: 120%->130%

]Level Cost: 140 EP-> 180 EP]

Matt packed away the metal pieces and left the cold room. Fortunately, he kept spare clothes in the lab and wouldn't need to go far to change. He had never stopped the habit of activating his detect life at regular intervals. Since it was much stronger now, he felt very safe. As he entered the closet in his lab to get changed, he detected someone in the hallway coming this direction. Although this didn't necessarily mean they were coming here, it was still an uncommon occurrence.

He paid attention to the life signature while changing his clothes and suddenly recognized something. It was very faint but his strengthened detect life allowed him to focus on a single life source. The vital points lit up like a tree and a single black spot was slowly spreading toward the nearest vital area. Matt went on high alert and prepared for the worst. However, as soon as the source reached his lab, it kept going. Matt was about to relax when their life force flickered and they fell backward.

Matt quickly ran out, not even noticing that he forgot his shirt. On the ground was someone he had never seen before. She had brown hair, olive skin and was well endowed in the chest area. She wore the standard engineer's uniform and no rank insignia. This meant she was likely a non-commissioned officer like Matt.

There was a gash in her abdomen that was blackened. This was the source of the dark light he saw. It was clearly the living metal.